Nike Set To Roll Out New NFF Kit Before Olympics

Sports apparel giants, Nike and the Nigeria Football Federation have signed an improved four-year contract till 2022 with an option to extend the deal by another four years.

Nike was the official kit sponsors of the Super Eagles for the 2018 World Cup.The jersey was a huge market hit, receiving three million pre-orders and selling out three minutes after it went on sale.

The design was also nominated for the London Design Museum’s Beazley Design of the Year. The new deal will see Nike supply the kits to all national teams under the NFF. The kit manufacturers will provide kits for the Super Falcons and the cadet teams.

President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, wearing a Nigeria home kit, expressed his satisfaction at the new deal from Nike highlighting the progress made compared to past years.“I am happy we are here now. We now have an improved offer. We are Nike’s beautiful bride. We are one of only two countries they are sponsoring in Africa,” said Pinnick.“I am happy on this new deal. There was a time we wanted to go for a competition and we didn’t have any kits…now Nike will be kitting all our national teams. Even all our junior teams will be kitted by Nike.”

Despite Nigeria not reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup, the jerseys were a big success with the high number of sales and acceptance worldwide. NFF second vice president, Mallam Shehu Dikko, said the sportswear giants immediately offered a contract after the 2018 World Cup.

“Nike was shocked! They offered us this contract since, after the World Cup, they were hammering that we need to sign, but we told them that we are not in a hurry. Now we have a robust contract for the next four years which will run to 2022,” Dikko said.

With the new deal, the NFF will earn bonuses on the sales of the kit while the kit will be directly supplied to the NFF’s doorstep. Nike’s Regional sports Marketing Director for Africa, Tina Salminen said a new design will be rolled out before the 2020 Olympics. She confirmed that “the same designer who designed this one (current one) will design a new one.”